Best Bike Locks

Smash Lab: Bike Locks Broken

We busted some locks to find out which ones you can trust

david howard

(Photo by <i>Bicycling's</i> test of the most popular—and most theft-proof—locks. (Joshua Simpson))

Which locks best frustrate a thief? We decided to find out by asking an expert, Hal Ruzal, a longtime mechanic at Bicycle Habitat in New York City, to hack through a batch. To make the test realistic, we requested that he use only the tools commonly carried by thieves. About those tools: The cordless angle grinder he wielded might be the weapon of choice in cities like New York, but they’re far less common in smaller towns. Buy as much lock as you need for where you live.

Lock Type

Chains

U-Locks

Cables

New Designs

Top Performer

OnGuard 8020 Mastiff ($90)

Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit Mini ($110)

None. No cable we've seen stands above the others.

They're totally different, and each had strengths and weaknesses

Best For

Big cities, or areas where bike thieves are known to be active

Lower-crime areas or bigger ­cities, to secure a wheel to the frame

Smaller towns where crime isn't much of an issue

Small cities and medium- to low-crime areas

Our Results

The Mastiff's hardened-steel links withstood a hacksaw and bolt cutters. After nearly three minutes of use, the battery in Ruzal's angle grinder died before he could cut the shackle. He also likes Kryptonite's New York Fahgettaboudit. He found a weak link in the HipLok L1 Lite ($70, shown), snipping the shackle with bolt cutters in 29 seconds.

Tackling Kryptonite's Fahgettaboudit Mini ($110), Ruzal passed on bolt cutters. The lock is unique in that it secures each end of the U—so a thief has to cut both sides. An angle grinder did the job in slightly more than a minute—nearly twice the time it took on the OnGuard Bulldog LS ($37), an impressive lock that resisted bolt cutters and a pipe attack.

The Blackburn Angola ($30) resisted bolt cutters—the Kevlar coating caused the blades to slip off. But when Ruzal switched to a pair of wire cutters small enough to fit in his pocket, he cut through the cable in 75 seconds. This isn't enough security for a city setting, unless it's meant to safeguard a front wheel or other part, Ruzal says.

Breaking the 24-inch TiGr ($200, shown), Ruzal first tried to torque the head with pliers. He then hacksawed it open by the keyhole—but it took nearly four minutes. The angle grinder severed it in 17 seconds. Ruzal couldn't pop the linked sections of the foldable Abus Bordo Lite ($90) with a vise wrench or hacksaw, but the angle grinder opened it in three seconds.